By supporting military children, you are supporting America’s future today. Let’s work together to b

Our brave military service men and women willingly sign-up to serve our country both at home and abroad. Their spouses also know, more or less, what they are getting into.

But what about the Kids of America’s Heroes?

These brave young people serve right alongside their parents, and often go unseen at school or in the community.

We, as US citizens and concerned human beings, can support our littlest warriors.

Here are the top 10 reasons why YOU should support the Kids of America’s Heroes!

Unsung, Unseen Warriors: There is a TON of focus on our wounded veterans and veterans or active duty personnel, and rightly so. But their kids are often less visible. KOAH aims to change that by improving the demographic identification system used in US schools to include military information. This will help schools and teachers be more aware of the MilKids in their classrooms, and provide more timely service and help if needed

Frequent Moves: Military children move, on average, once every three years. They have to adjust to a new home, new community, new school, and make new friends. This can be super exhausting for adults (I know, I do it as a MilSpouse!), but for kids who are forming their identities it can be even more disruptive.

Military Life: The US military has been working overtime for more than a decade. Troops have been serving deployment tours that are six months to over a year. Many units have been deployed for an extended period of time, come back to retrain, and then deployed gain. The constant coming and going of an active duty parent is stressful and can contribute to academic, emotional, behavioral, or other concerns. When you are never sure when or if mom or dad will be home, it’s hard to feel secure.

Stressors Add Up: Moving frequently is one kind of stress, and having a parent frequently deployed is another kind. A third type of stress exists when a parent either doesn’t return from deployment or returns drastically changed. When you combine all three types, as is the case for military connected children, it can cause changes in behavior, academic performance, or contribute to emotional concerns.

Help the Family: Did you know that some military families live paycheck to paycheck? It’s true! In 2014 at least $84 million in food stamps were spent at US military grocery stores. And the trend over the last several years has seen an increase in total food stamp or food assistance dollars spent at military bases. While the military does offer substantial health and wellness programs and a good retirement program, many families are living on one income or are dealing with complications brought on by years of war.

In Your Community: Military families don’t JUST live on or around military bases.

With National Guard or Reserves troops living in every school district in the US, you have military children in YOUR community, too! Over 80% of the more than 2 million military connected children attend public schools. If these kiddos live way off-base, are staying with a non-parental guardian during deployment, are connected to a reserve or Guard family, or belong to a veteran’s family, you may not even know a military connected child is in your community at all!

Special Education Concerns: Like the regular population, many military connected children need to receive special education instruction and/or care. The availability and quality of this care and instruction varies widely across our country. Some schools have outstanding special education departments, others not so much. Some duty station have a wealth of care providers, and others have very few. By supporting and advocating for military families, you can help communities to fill in those gaps in coverage.

Cuts Are Coming to MilFams: As our country struggles to balance our books, many of the services and support that military families rely on will be cut or dramatically reduced. Pay raises will be smaller than public sector counterparts. Our health care provider would change coverage options. The formerly at-cost commissary system would also see a cost hike. And there are other cuts coming down the road. This leave military families more vulnerable than ever before, while in active duty service, on reserve/Guard duty, and after retirement.

Making Community Connections: Including military children and families in your communities help everyone! Military families are often driven by a volunteer ethos, and want to pitch in. So reach out through your school, neighborhood association, church group, or other social group to new families in your city or town.

Build America’s Future: Our children are our future, so let’s support them right now! By helping our MilKids, you are helping to nurture well-educated, community connected, and compassionate children. Today’s kids will grow into tomorrow’s leaders and achievers. We will all benefit from leaders who are community focused and willing to help others.

More About Meg:

I'm a teacher, blogger, writer, runner, mother, and military spouse. I am passionate about helping ALL children learn, offering tips to guide parents through the K-12 education world, and providing useful advice to teachers of all ages and stages.

milkidseducationconsulting.wordpress.com

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